Various forms of energy-based treatment of a fluid are known.
Indeed, the assignee of the present invention is the assignee of a number United States patents relating to ultraviolet (UV) radiation treatment of fluids such as municipal wastewater, municipal drinking water, industrial waste water, industrial process water, domestic drinking water and the like. See, for example, one or more of the following patents:                U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,809;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,980;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,244;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,370;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,063;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,335;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,871;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,209;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,210;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,461;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,846,437;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,936,359;        U.S. Pat. No. Re36,896;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,841;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,343;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,834; and        U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,759.        
Generally, these prior patents relate to ultraviolet radiation fluid treatment systems and/or components for use therein. As is known in the art, ultraviolet radiation is useful to inactivate or kill a wide range of microorganisms (e.g., bacteria., viruses, parasites and the like) which are contained in the fluid being treated.
Thus, the effectiveness of UV radiation for disinfecting high quality effluents has been demonstrated. However, there has been some uncertainty regarding the performance of UV radiation for the disinfection of marginal or poor quality effluents. Underlying this uncertainty is the ability to inactivate particle-associated microorganisms which are highly resistant to UV. High doses of disinfectant are usually required to expose microorganisms buried within particle interiors to lethal doses and in some cases; complete inactivation of particle-associated microorganisms may never be achieved using UV irradiation alone.
Another issue in UV disinfection is the differing sensitivity to UV of the various types of microorganisms (e.g., parasites, bacteria, viruses and the like) which may be present in the fluid. The low UV doses used to inactivate coliforms (an indicator organism which is used to assess the possible level of pathogens) and similarly sensitive pathogens may not inactivate UV-opaque microorganisms to the same level.
Thus, despite the advance made to date there remains room for improvement in the art.